"Hardening of homes is
the only way Floridians have to help control ... the
spiraling cost of insurance in this state," she told a
Citizens' panel. "The more they hear, 'I didn't get
anything for doing that,' the less they're going to"
make upgrades.

Leaders of Citizens, the
largest home insurer in the state with 1.4 million
policies, said they're doing the inspections so premiums
and discounts are based on accurate information, not to
raise premiums. "We're trying to do all the right
things" but Citizens employees have to balance what
regulators, elected officials, and others want, said
Yong Gilroy, Citizens' chief insurance officer.

Westcott said her office
has heard from a lot of real estate agents that
Citizens' inspections are killing potential home sales:
"You might get to the closing table [and find out] you
can't afford to buy that house anymore because the
insurance is going to be greater than you expected."

Westcott recommended
Citizens use "plain language" for anything sent to
consumers about inspections; require inspectors to pull
permits; provide space for policyholders' comments on
forms filled out during inspections; and provide
detailed information to policyholders before inspections
and after so they can make the right upgrades.

Carol Everhart, a
Citizens board member, asked Westcott to help Citizens
draft a brochure to make the process easier to
understand. Citizens said it plans to look into some of
Westcott's other recommendations.

Westcott said her office
is also concerned about some proposals to reduce
coverage for certain water damage to $15,000 and raise
new Citizens policyholders' premiums more than the
current cap of 10 percent a year. If approved, the rate
proposal would mean some customers in South Florida pay
in excess of 50 percent more than neighbors with similar
coverage and some condominium owners pay twice as much.

Citizens' board plans to vote on the proposals, which
aim to shrink the insurer and its financials risk to
Floridians, at a meeting in Miami
Friday.
Citizens would then need approval from the Office of
Insurance Regulation.

The board also will vote
on increasing existing policyholders' statewide average
rates by 8 percent or 9.1 percent, depending on whether
the new coverage limit on water damage is approved.

Another Citizens
Property Insurance panel discussed proposals Thursday to
have private insurers take over large batches of its
policies. Under some proposals, Citizens would provide
private insurers with cash or loans or it would make
companies compete for the policies to get the best deal.
Citizens plans to have employees analyze the ideas, have
the board vote Sept. 7 and implement the plans early
next year — if regulators approve them.

Westcott described a
consumer who had three inspections done by Citizens'
contractors and each had a different result. One
inspector pulled permits and took a photo of roof clips
to help the consumer score discounts. The other two did
not pull the permit and wrote "other" instead of noting
the clips were there. "What is 'other?' Well, they lost
all of their credits," Westcott said.

"That is unfair," she
said. "We are not doing the right thing by the consumer
here."

Citizens said only 3
percent of policyholders who had inspections done
disputed them, and only 1 percent received additional
discounts after disputing the findings.

The state's Department
of Financial Services, which oversees Westcott's office,
received 268 complaints about Citizens' inspections from
Jan. 1, 2011, to July 25, 2012. That means fewer than 1
percent of policyholders with inspections complained to
the state.

Citizens' board meeting is at 9 a.m.
Friday at the Marriott Hotel, 11099 Brickell Ave.,
Miami. More information about proposals to move policies
out of Citizens is available at SunSentinel.com/HouseKeys.